


Safe Space

by JishytheFishy



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, GW2018, Gay, M/M, Male - Freeform, Not Underage, Pining, Safe Sane and Consensual, Slow Burn, Teacher AU, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-27 01:35:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15013817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JishytheFishy/pseuds/JishytheFishy
Summary: Ian Gallagher is an English teacher on the South Side, fresh out of school. He decides to label his classroom a 'Safe Space' for the LGBTQ+ students at the school, providing snacks, drinks, and companionship to anybody that needs it. One day, though, Mickey Milkovich decides to seek out the group, a senior student that Ian has barely ever spoken to.





	Safe Space

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! So this is my first multi-chap, and was a prompt from Jennifer from our Gallavich Facebook group.   
> Couple things I wanna address: Mickey isn't a minor, he was held back, and this is Ian's first job as a teacher (he's young). Also, this is gonna be a slow burn - they're not going to be in a relationship for at least a little while, probably not until Mickey graduates. Either way, I'll update the tags as I go. Hope you enjoy!

It had started with a Facebook post. One teacher in the _‘Educators of Chicago’_ group had posted a photo of a paper taped on their classroom door’s window. It had a rainbow background, presenting the words “This is a _Safe Space._ You are welcome to be who you are and to find support and resources.” To the hallway. She shared her positive experience, and event left a link so other teachers could print it off and stick it in their classrooms. As Ian scrolled through the comment section, he felt excitement and anxiety begin to bubble up within him. There were no bad tales being shared. He wondered if there were any at all, or if they just weren’t being shared in an attempt to get other teachers to join in. He also wondered how in the _fuck_ he would manage to put something like that up in Tilden High School, on the fucking South Side of Chicago. 

Issues regarding the LGBTQ+ community had barely improved since Ian had been a student in the very same school he was teaching at. Faculty was pushing for change, and inclusion, but it was being ignored and rejected by students and parents. Nobody gave a single shit, and Ian didn’t want to risk anybody’s livelihood (including his own) by making such a statement. He wasn’t about to get shanked for sticking some rainbow shit on his door. 

Then he read a story in the comments. A student had been frequently coming to the safe space, hanging out with their peers and the teacher, who had also been providing snacks. The particular student wolfed down snacks like her life depended on it, and wore long sleeves, even in the summer. She slowly began to open up, sharing stories of her own self-doubt and hatred, and how she was working on improving her mental health. She had previously tried to commit suicide multiple times, and the thought of not being able to return to their safe space had stopped her most recent attempt. 

Ian’s stomach had now tied itself in knots. He was unable to come up with any more concrete arguments as to _why_ he shouldn’t make his own classroom a safe space. He was ‘out and proud’, and he knew what it was like to grow up in a town that would never accept it. But he’d done it, and he wanted to show other kids that it was possible. 

So while sitting there in his bachelor apartment, he decided he’d take the picture to the printing room the next day. He’d get it laminated, and he’d stick it up on his door, inviting in anybody that wanted a safe space. 

 

At first, he was met with resistance and judgement. His coworkers stopped by his door and made loud comments about the tiny sign, knowing that Ian was inside on his planning time. Some of his tougher, ‘thug’ students kissed their teeth upon seeing the sign, one of them even challenging Ian in front of the rest of the class. He’d come in late, and decided to disrupt the entire lesson on Shakespeare’s _Hamlet._

“Yo, Teach - the fuck is this shit?” 

Ian turned to the student, stopping mid-sentence to stare. He watched the boy point at the sign, having wandered in through the open door. Ian tried his best to keep his temper down, face flat, tone understanding. He hoped that the smallest part of this kid would just accept it in the end, even if they had to have a small argument first. Ian knew it’d be out of ignorance - this kid didn’t know better, he hadn’t been taught anything different. Maybe he’d just come around. 

“A sign on my door. Are you gonna take your seat now?” 

“Nah, nah. What’s with the rainbow pride shit, man? I ain’t down with that.” 

“Then you can walk yourself to the principal’s office.” Ian retorted smoothly, turning to his desk to write up a note. 

“You serious? ‘Cause I got a fuckin’ opinion?! You a fag, that fuckin’ why?!” The student began to move towards Ian, a threat in each of his strides. Ian turned, moving up to face the kid head on. They had training for this, but Ian wasn’t going to let this kid walk all over him. 

“No. I’m not a _fag,”_ Ian said sharply, raising the piece of paper to the boy’s face. “And you should learn what things you _should_ and _shouldn’t_ fucking say.” Ian nearly growled, shoving the paper into the boy’s hand. “Now _go.”_

The kid kissed his teeth, turning and muttering a curse as he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Ian turned back to his class, each pupil watching him with great interest and surprise. “Well, I guess now I can tell you guys that I’m starting up a safe space. Every day during and the period after lunch, anybody can come in here. I’ll have snacks in case anybody is hungry.” He nodded. “And I don’t want to hear any shit about it. If you’ve got something against it, for whatever reason, good for you. But don’t be a prick about it.” Ian sighed, trying to release all of his tense, negative energy. That was never how he wanted to teach a class. “Okay, are we good? Can we get back to the dead guy’s play?” He joked gently, glancing across each face in his class. A few laughed lightly, nodding, and Ian continued with his lesson. 

Mickey sat at his desk, head down until the altercation between his teacher and a student. Mickey had also seen the rainbow sign upon walking into class, and heard a few kids talking about it before Mr. Gallagher had arrived, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t see the point; he’d just piss off his only hot teacher, and make classes awkward. Also, he’d have to leave, and miss the muscular ginger happily discussing some boring bullshit, flaunting his arms under the white dress shirt that _should’ve_ been illegal. Gallagher had the sleeves rolled up just slightly, biceps bulging from underneath. His pecs and abs were visible underneath the see-through top, and Mickey was silently cursing the man for not wearing a fucking undershirt. _Who_ does _that?_ Assholes, that’s who. 

All the girls in the class were swooning, along with Mickey (unbeknownst to him).

Later, during lunch, Mickey passed by Mr. Gallagher’s classroom and tried to subtly peek inside. His head of ginger hair poked out from around the girls surrounding him, each of the heads turned up to him, watching him with adoring expressions on their faces. They were snacking on whatever Gallagher had provided, listening to him tell some story that Mickey wasn’t really interested in. 

Just as he began to walk away, he heard Mr. Gallagher mention one crucial point in his story: he had a boyfriend at the time. A fucking _boyfriend_. 

“Wait - you’re gay?” 

“What? Oh. Yeah. I’m not still dating that guy, though - he was a douche.” 

Mickey rubbed his mouth and quickly continued on down the hall, contemplating how in the fuck he’d missed that. 

 

After a few weeks, the girls began to lose interest. More than half didn’t show up to the next two meetings after Ian had come out to them, and after that, the numbers dwindled down. Once in a while, one or two kids would show up, asking for advice for telling their parents, how to deal with bullies, or their crushes on people whose sexualities they had no clue about. Sometimes they came in crying, or began to when they told their stories, but after a juice box, various snacks, and a really, really long talk, they would leave smiling - Ian always made sure of that.

Some days, four or five kids that would otherwise never hang out would come in, happily meeting with their ‘favourite teacher’ (he only had classes with a few of them) and their new friends. They’d talk about life, confiding in each other, and forming bonds that were definitely helping each and every one of them.

Occasionally, though, only a couple showed up, or none at all - they were just busy, Ian didn’t blame them. It would leave him to his lunch and planning time alone, which wasn’t so bad once in a while.

There was one day he’d never forget, though. The bell to signal the ending of lunch had chimed about ten minutes before, and the hallways became empty once again. Ian left his door open a crack and walked to the other side of the room, sitting at his desk and beginning to grade papers. He was in the middle of marking one that had obviously _no_ effort put into it when he heard his door open, and the shuffle of feet. He glanced up, raising his brows once he realized who it was. 

“Hi, Mickey.” Ian smiled. He was definitely sure it was the first time he’d ever spoken to his student, other than very short answers when Ian called on him in class. Mickey was smart, but he didn’t like to show it, or participate at all. He’d heard from other teachers that Mickey was a loose cannon, and his entire family was no different - Mickey’s two older brothers (barely) attended before Ian had started teaching there. Ian knew of them - what Lip would tell him of Mandy, or the stories he’d hear of Mickey’s dad. Ian’s coworkers compared the black haired boy to his father, but Ian wanted to give him a chance. 

Mickey only nodded, taking another step in and pointing to the opposite side of the ‘safe space’ sticker on the inside of the door. “Yeah, I’m free all period. Do you have a class right now?” 

Mickey ignored the question, pushing the door closed with his foot and keeping his eyes on the floor. It wasn’t the first time a student had skipped class to come see him, but Ian generally didn’t like letting them miss class - he’d had enough ‘talking to’s’ from teachers. He didn’t want to have to shut down his group, so tried his best to tread carefully. But Mickey hadn’t been in class today, so Ian just assumed that he’d been marked absent for the whole day. “Why weren’t you in class?” 

“Can I have a smoke?” Mickey asked without pause, looking up finally. He revealed the dark bruise around his eye, and the split in his big bottom lip. Ian was distracted momentarily by the wounds, earning an eyebrow raise from Mickey, which snapped the teacher right out of it. 

“Uh, yeah. Just sit by the window. Keep it open and blow the smoke out.” Ian was sure he could get fired for this. Positive. But Mickey had never shown an interest in _anything_ before, and all Ian wanted to do was help.

**Author's Note:**

> As I said, this is my first multichap on here - please be gentle! Let me know what you think, what you wanna see, etc., etc. Kudos are always appreciated, too. Thank you!! <3


End file.
